In recent years, hybrid vehicles (e.g., a plug-in hybrid vehicle) and electric vehicles are becoming more common. As a result, a vehicular charge control apparatus for controlling a charge operation of such vehicles are needed.
Conventionally, the charge control apparatus may have a function to start charging the vehicle at a preset time, such as a charge reservation function. However, in order to charge the vehicle by way of the charge reservation function, a charge plug extending from an external power source needs to be adequately connected to the vehicle at a start time of the charging. Therefore, various technique for detecting an abnormality of a connection state of the plug (e.g., a charge plug being forgotten to be plugged in to a connector, a plug being pulled off from a connector, a plug falling off from a connector, or the like) before starting the charging are proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application 2009-60728 (US Publication No. 2010-0204859) discloses an apparatus that is configured not to start the charge operation by canceling a preset charge start time, when it is detected that a charge cable is being pulled off from a charge connector based on a pull-off checking action.